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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536534">Paper Ships</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lord_of_Chaos/pseuds/The_Lord_of_Chaos'>The_Lord_of_Chaos</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Major Illness, Phic phight 2020, Quarantine, Sickfic, Team Humans, USS Cyber Space, Whump</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:40:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,993</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536534</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lord_of_Chaos/pseuds/The_Lord_of_Chaos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny gets quarantined with a very sick Tucker, and as the hospital's swamped with cases, it's up to Danny to take care of his best friend.  (This could actually be fairly triggering.  If you're stressing out about what's happening right now, you might want to skip this one.)</p><p>Title from album: Dead Man's Bones, which I highly recommend.</p><p>Phic Phight 2020 Prompts:<br/>From Pesky_poltergeist - Show a rare pair some love.  (I chose Danny/Tucker)<br/>From catalystofthesoul - And they were quarantined.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Danny Fenton/Tucker Foley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Phic Phight!</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Paper Ships</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/pesky_poltergeist/gifts">pesky_poltergeist</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatalystOfTheSoul/gifts">CatalystOfTheSoul</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Set out to write a shippy sickfic and then whump happened.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t that Danny couldn’t get sick anymore.He’d thrown up his entire digestive system when Dad had tried to cook dinner with the Fenton Ecto Cooker and had severely undercooked the chicken.Viruses, though, just couldn’t do anything to him.It was his altered DNA.His cells just weren’t compatible with viruses the way normal human cells were.Bacteria still sucked.Aside from the whole salmonella thing, he’d gotten a staph infection on his neck about a month earlier that he was pretty sure he’d gotten when Dash had put him in a headlock.That hadn’t been fun.The flu though, he couldn’t catch it and he couldn’t carry it.Same with whatever Tucker got, but he couldn’t exactly tell the doctors that.</p><p>“Hey doc,” hypothetical Danny would say to one of the CDC guys in hazmat suits.“Just so you know I’m totally immune to this virus because of my ghost DNA.”</p><p>That was how you wound up in a government lab getting probed and stuff.He might as well say, “cool hazmat suits, you want to see mine?”</p><p>He was immune, and he definitely didn’t need to be quarantined, but there wasn’t any test yet, and at least he could keep Tucker from having a panic attack, stuck as they were in a hospital room.</p><p>“What was that?” Tucker asked, fear in his voice.He looked terrible and it wasn’t just because the weird superbug that had been going around had absolutely recked him.Danny was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all the night before.Not unusual for the nerd who sometimes stayed up all night playing video games or coding or hacking, but he absolutely needed the rest.He was just incapable of closing his eyes in a hospital room.</p><p>Danny hurried back into the room proper and showed off the trays of food that had just been slid through the door. </p><p>“Looks like meatloaf,” Danny said, keeping up a bit of cheer for Tucker.</p><p>“You’d tell me if they were coming in here, right?” Tucker asked.</p><p>“Of course,” Danny said.“Are you hungry.”</p><p>“I’m always hungry,” Tucker said, though that was just what he always said when someone asked that question.Danny was pretty sure the actual answer was at best, ‘No,’ and at worst, ‘Hell No.’</p><p>“The grits should be alright,” Danny said.“We can mix in some of the juices from the meatloaf for flavor.”</p><p>Tucker groaned a bit but scooted closer to Danny when he lay down on the bed next to him.Danny moved the meatloaf out of its divot on Tucker’s tray and sloshed the grits into the well with all of the juices and mixed the two together.With that finished he put the tray on Tucker’s lap and grabbed his own off of the nightstand.</p><p>“Come on,” Danny said.“Eat what you can.”</p><p>Tucker covered his face with his hands before letting his head loll on Danny’s shoulder.</p><p>“It’s going to be okay,” Danny said, wanting to pull Tucker closer.</p><p>“It’s not,” Tucker said vehemently, and his breath hitched, and when his breath hitched it caused a cascade that started with a small cough and turned into more and more violent spasms.Danny rescued Tucker’s tray with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Tucker and did hold him close until it receded.</p><p>“How do you think Sam’s doing?” Tucker asked.</p><p>One of the symptoms was frequent bouts of intense headaches and light sensitivity.The curtains were drawn and the lights dimmed and Tucker had given up on staring at his phone’s screen the day before.Danny was keeping up communications between them and everyone on the outside.</p><p>“Chewing nails being stuck at home with her parents,” Danny said.“She wants to sneak out but she’s worried about bringing back something to her Grandma.Pam’s decided they all need to do puzzles together.”</p><p>Tucker drooped against Danny’s side and Danny slid the tray back onto his lap.</p><p>“This actually isn’t bad, Tuck, you should try some,” Danny said.</p><p>Tucker groaned.Danny had been keeping tabs on what was going on outside.Patients who weren’t eating enough or taking in enough fluids were getting IVs.That was the absolute last thing Tucker needed.One of the doctors had mentioned early on maybe needing to restrain Tucker, who was all but incapable of cooperating with the doctors, and Danny had about gone feral.Neither of them were popular with the doctors.</p><p>“Okay,” Danny said, scooping up some grits from Tucker’s tray.“Here comes the choo choo train.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Tucker rasped.</p><p>“It’s coming up to the tunnel,” Danny said.</p><p>Tucker took the spoon from him and put it in his own mouth, and swallowing it with a wince.</p><p>“Drink some juice,” Danny said, holding the cup close enough that Tucker could get at the straw.It wasn’t really juice.Danny was pretty sure it was a watered down sports drink.</p><p>“Was that your spoon?” Tucker asked.</p><p>“Oh,” Danny said.“Yeah.”They’d been sharing germs since they’d met in the sandbox.</p><p>“Pretty sure the doctors hate you,” Tucker said.</p><p>Danny snorted. </p><p>“Doctors hate him,” Danny said.“Do this at home and live until you’re a hundred.”</p><p>The doctor’s might actually hate him.They hadn’t liked it when Danny had kept on taking his mask off as soon as they left.The sight of it wasn’t great for Tucker’s emotional wellbeing and neither of them were going to spread any germs to the other.They hadn’t liked finding them side by side in bed either, Danny was sticking with Tucker though.They really didn’t like that Danny kept spiking fevers but not really showing any signs of the illness.He’d been trying to just make his body temperature normal by coursing a bit of electricity through himself before they made their rounds, but he’d overdone it a couple of times.</p><p>“They should be thanking me,” Danny said.Danny was well enough that they didn’t need to come inside the room for everything.He could pick up food at the door, help Tucker to the bathroom, and stuff like that.“Come on, let’s try another bite.”</p><p>They got through Tucker’s grits, and one little bite of meatloaf.Danny tried not to make Tucker finishing his juice sound like it was high stakes.</p><p>“You okay?” Danny asked.</p><p>“Staying down,” Tucker said.</p><p>An hour later there was a knock at the door and Tucker, who had been drifting between panic and unconsciousness, became tense.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Danny said.“They’e just here for the trays.”</p><p>Tucker wined lowly as Danny got out of the bed.He slid the two trays through the slot.</p><p>“Who ate what?” the nurse or the orderly or whoever was there asked.</p><p>“I finished my tray, Tucker ate the grits and a little bit of meatloaf.And he finished his juice.”</p><p>“How’s he doing?”</p><p>“No blood,” Danny said, making sure he sounded optimistic. </p><p>“Is he awake?”</p><p>“Mostly,” Danny said, getting nervous.</p><p>“They’re doing rounds right now,” they were keeping their voice down low now.“They’re trying a new treatment.It’s an injection.It would be best if he were asleep when they came in.”</p><p>“How long do I have?” Danny asked.</p><p>“An hour.”</p><p>Danny sighed.“We’ll see.”</p><p>He went back to Tucker.</p><p>“What was that?” Tucker asked</p><p>“Just checking in on how things are going outside,” Danny said.</p><p>“That bad you had to whisper about it?” Tucker asked.</p><p>“Your parents are fine, so’s Sam,” Danny said.He started fiddling with the controls for the bed, laying it down flat.</p><p>“Uh uh,” Tucker said.“Not going to sleep.”He sounded half asleep already.</p><p>“Just going to rest for a bit,” Danny said.“Here, I bet you’ve got something here on your PDA.I’ll read to you.”</p><p>Tucker did not have stories on his PDA.He did have a digital copy of ‘Advanced HTML’ and Danny supposed it didn’t matter what he was reading as long as he read it in a calming voice.He lay down next to Tucker and started reading.‘Advanced HTML’ was incredibly boring, but Danny kept on anyway, not taking any of it in.</p><p>Tucker latched onto Danny early on, and Danny resigned himself to being a teddybear for a while and feeling his heart flutter in his chest.As long as Tucker was asleep, Danny didn’t care what disapproving glare he got from the doctor when they came in.They’d always been close.Tucker’s mom had pictures of them draped over each other during sleepovers from when they’d been little.These days though, it felt more significant when they touched.When Tucker leaned against him on the couch as they watched a movie, when he slung his arm over Danny’s shoulders as they walked to the Nasty Burger.Danny was used to feeling that way around Valerie, and even Sam sometimes.He didn’t know when he started feeling that way about the boy who’d been by his side as long as he could remember.Tucker had always been the guy he could tell anything.Danny just didn’t know how to tell him how he felt.</p><p>He was shocked from his musings when something hot touched his neck; Tucker had buried his face right in.</p><p>“Mmm, you’re cool,” Tucker said.</p><p>“You’re burning up,” Danny said, feeling a bit panicked.He had to go intangible to get himself untangled from Tucker.</p><p>“No, no, no, no,” Tucker said, when Danny came back with the thermometer.The activity started another hacking fit.</p><p>“Your fever’s gone up,” Danny said, starting to get worried for maybe the first time since it all started. </p><p>They fought ghosts on the daily.Tucker could fight some virus.</p><p>“’t’s fine,” Tucker said before slapping a hand over his mouth as if Danny was about to lunge at him with the probe.</p><p>“Armpit,” Danny said.“It doesn’t have to go in your mouth.”</p><p>Tucker shook his head and struggled to stop coughing.His spasms just became more violent and Danny knew he wasn’t going to get close to help while he had a thermometer in his hand.</p><p>“Tucker, pleas,” Danny said.“If you’re getting worse, I need to know.”</p><p>“You’ll… doctors,” Tucker said, slurring his speech with a wild, unfocused look in his eyes.</p><p>“I won’t call the doctors,” Danny said.“But I will if I don’t know if your brains melting right now.”</p><p>“No thermometer… brain,” Tucker said, shaking his head.He was completely delirious.</p><p>“Okay,” Danny said.“If you don’t want met to put the thermometer in your brain can I put it in your armpit?”</p><p>Tucker coughed some more.</p><p>“No brain?”</p><p>“No brain,” Danny agreed. </p><p>“Don’ stab me.”</p><p>“I won’t stab you with it,” Danny agreed.</p><p>Tucker didn’t say anything and when he stopped coughing, Danny moved forward and propped Tucker up so he was leaning against Danny.He untied the back of Tucker’s hospital gown and exposed his shoulder enough to get the probe in between his arm and his torso.Tucker wined and Danny held him close while the thermometer did its job.</p><p>“Cool,” Tucker slurred, pressing up against Danny.</p><p>“I mean, compared to a nerd like you,” Danny said. </p><p>“Mean.” Tucker said.He tensed up when the thermometer started beeping.</p><p>107.“Oh, shit,” Danny said. When had it gotten that bad?Tucker was fine.It was just a cough.He just needed some rest.He just needed Danny to take care of him and he’d be fine.</p><p>“No doctors,” Tucker said.</p><p>“No doctors,” Danny agreed.</p><p>He picked Tucker up.</p><p>“No, no, no,” Tucker moaned.</p><p>“No doctors,” Danny said quickly.“No doctors, I just need to get this fever down.”</p><p>“Surgery!” Tucker slurred.</p><p>“No surgery,” Danny said, kicking open the door to their little bathroom. </p><p>“Knock me out.”</p><p>“No one’s knocking you out,” Danny said, setting him down on the bench in the cramped shower stall.</p><p>Tucker pitched forward when Danny let him go to turn on the water and Danny had to catch him.He wound up having to hold him upright with one arm and adjust the nobs with the other.When the water went from cold to just barely lukewarm, Danny got out of the way and let it spray Tucker.</p><p>Tucker moaned and Danny didn’t know if it was from relief or from whatever horrors were going on in his head.Danny repositioned them so Tucker was in his lap and Danny could keep him in the spray and keep him from slumping over.</p><p>“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Danny said, starting a litany of reassurances as Tucker slipped in and out of delirium.He only seemed to become slightly aware of his surroundings when coughing fits took hold of him. </p><p>“It’s okay,” Danny said.“Slow breaths. You’re okay.”</p><p>Maybe the fever was going down, but Tucker was getting worse.The coughing was getting worse.When Danny saw blood sprayed against the opposite wall he started to cry.</p><p>“Not good,” Tucker said.</p><p>“You’re going to be fine,” Danny said vehemently.He knew that people were dying out there, but that wasn’t going to happen to Tucker.“You know what’s going to happen now?” He asked, trying to calm himself down.Trying to soothe Tucker.“You’re going to get out and Sam’s going to tell you you’d have been fine if you’d been a Vegan.”</p><p>“Not getting ou’ve here,” Tucker slurred.He sounded scarred.</p><p>“Yes you are,” Danny said. </p><p>Suddenly it was all Danny could do to hold Tucker as more violent coughs racked his body.Danny turned Tucker’s head away when he was done so he wouldn’t be staring at the blood on the tile.</p><p>“Mom,” Tucker wined.</p><p>“Your mom’s staying safe at home,” Danny said.“She wishes she could be here.She says so every time she calls.</p><p>“Danny,” Tucker said.“Don’t go, Danny.”</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” Danny said, holding Tucker tighter.“I’m not going anywhere.”Where were the doctors?Hadn’t it been an hour yet?</p><p>“Don’t go in the portal Danny,” Tucker said, and Danny’s breath hitched.</p><p>“I’m fine,” Danny said.“I’m right here.”</p><p>“You died.”</p><p>“I came back for you and Sam,” Danny said.“I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>“Danny?” Tucker said, trying to turn himself around.</p><p>“I’m right here,” Danny said.</p><p>“’t hurts,” Tucker said.</p><p>“I know,” Danny said.“I know it hurts, but it’s going to get better.You’re going to get better.”</p><p>More pained coughing, more blood.</p><p>Danny had imagined the world without him before.He’d been directly faced with his own mortality for over a year.He’d imagined Sam and Tucker without him.He’d never thought of them without Tucker.</p><p>“Just hold in there,” Danny said.</p><p>Tucker just moaned and Danny held him close.When Tucker was better Danny wouldn’t ever let him go.He’d tell him.He’d tell Tucker how he made him feel.He’d find the words.He’d tell him what he meant to Danny.He’d tell him and he’d never let him go.Tucker just had to make it through.</p><p>Danny looked at the blood on the wall.</p><p>“Tucker,” he said.“I need to tell you…”</p><p>The door opened.</p><p>“What’s going on?” the doctor, or whoever, asked.</p><p>Tucker tensed in his arms, and tried to look around at who had just come in.</p><p>“His fever was one o’ seven,” Danny said.</p><p>“That’s blood,” someone else said.</p><p>“It just started, about fifteen minutes ago.”</p><p>Tucker would be hyperventilating if he could have drawn in a breath without coughing.Danny held him as he spasmed, and struggled to get away from the doctors.</p><p>The first person reached in and shut off the shower.</p><p>“This is our trouble patient,” he said to the other one.</p><p>“He’s not trouble,” Danny said, holding Tucker tighter.</p><p>“Let’s make this quick.”They pulled out a syringe.</p><p>“No!” Tucker yelled and between the violent spasming of his renewed cough and his struggling to get away, Danny almost dropped him, but he latched on tight and tapped into his ghostly strength to keep Tucker still long enough for the doctor to reach in and lift up the sleeve of his hospital gown and jab the needle in.Tucker was inconsolable after that and Danny held him as the doctor lifted his own sleeve and gave Danny the same injection.The other doctor came back in with a thermometer.This one was one of the quick read thermometers that went in the ear and Danny just pinned Tucker against himself.</p><p>“One o’ three,” she said.“Get him dried off and into bed, alright?Check his temperature again every half an hour.”</p><p>Danny nodded and then they were gone.Danny was split between being relieved that they were gone and he could begin calming Tucker down, and resentful that they’d seen the blood and everything and just left him there to take care of it.Danny knew that it was crazy out there.He knew that there weren’t enough doctors or nurses, or even enough hazmat suits.He knew other people were even sicker.His hearing really was too good and being in a hospital during an emergency was required a lot of distractions so he didn’t hear everything happening outside his door.He just didn’t feel adequate any more.He didn’t think he was enough, left alone in here to make sure Tucker was alright.</p><p>Tucker stopped struggling after a while and Danny carried him out and got them dried off.Someone had slid two more hospital gowns into the room through the slot in the door, and eventually Danny got Tucker back into bed.If there was one good thing to come out of it, Tucker had tired himself out enough that he started dozing off in between coughing fits.Danny held him close and monitored him through the night.He listened to Tucker’s heartbeat and ignored the chaos outside.He’d tell him in the morning.Tucker would be fine and he’d tell him in the morning. </p><p>It was hard to see the blood with the lights out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, hope you liked it.  First time doing Phic Phight and there's a ton of good stuff getting posted right now.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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